Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) has introduced a resolution that calls on the Department of Labor to withdraw proposed rulemaking that would reverse reforms to LM-2 financial disclosure forms.
Resolution 116 comes in response to proposed regulatory changes that would pull back on additional disclosure requirements implemented under President Bush. It makes note of the progress Bush Administration officials serving in the department’s Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) made in securing convictions against union officials for crimes like fraud and embezzlement.
The resolution reads as follows: “Whereas if the Form LM–2 regulation is rescinded, union executives will not be required to share information, including the value of the total compensation packages paid to union executives, and details regarding union expenditures and member dues; and Whereas, on April 23, 2009, 30 United States Senators sent a letter to Secretary Hilda Solis expressing their same concerns with the Department of Labor’s decision to rescind the new Form LM–2 regulations: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring) That it is the sense of Congress that the Obama Administration should immediately withdraw the Department of Labor’s notice of proposed rulemaking seeking to rescind the Form LM–2…”
“With regard to the LM-2 it is my belief that the department is pulling back on the new forms because the union leadership is concerned about how their members might react when they see how generous the compensation is,” said Don Todd, who was deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) under Bush.
Todd’s OLMS was responsible for enforcing the disclosure requirements Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is now repealing. He is now research director for Americans for Limited Government, a conservative non-profit.
Solis began the repeal process earlier this year when the Labor Department published a federal register notice announcing a proposal to rescind changes made by Bush officials to strengthen the LM-2. Solis agreed with union officials’ claims that there was no proof members would benefit by knowing the information reported, and that compiling the report was too costly.
The Washington Examiner reported on the Obama Administration’s attempt to roll back the disclosure requirements in Thursday’s edition.
It’s encouraging to see that Rep. Conaway and other Members of Congress have stepped up to expose the attempt of the Obama Labor Department to take vital information away from union members. This roll back is political payback to those union officials that helped elect Obama because these same union officials will not have to disclose their compensation packages if the Department is successful in rolling back these reforms,” said Todd.
Nathan Mehrens, another former Bush labor official, said the rule changes run counter to President Obama’s campaign promises.
“Obama came into office promising that ‘transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency’ but the Labor Department’s recent actions are diametrically opposed to these lofty notions. The Labor Department is essentially telling us that they will not enforce laws with which they do not agree, putting union members into the dark in the process,” he said. “How can anyone say that this is advancing the rule of law?”
